Game Description: Square Enix's latest action adventure game focuses on one man's relentless quest to find a cure for his daughter's disease. Carrying a mysterious book capable of unspeakable powers, Nier will travel to the depths of hell and back, battling enemies with multiple weapons, magic abilities and a combat system with chain attacks and more.

Nier Review

Taking inspiration from such diverse sources as Zelda, Resident Evil and any number of arcade shooters, Cavia's Nier is a fascinating hodgepodge of different action/adventure genres. Good combat, great music, and inspired art direction make for a worthy entry in the genre.

The Pros

Clever genre-bending elements

Fantastic art direction and music

Great boss fights and solid combat

The Cons

Repetitive non-boss enemies

Side quests are boring, fishing minigame is awful.

Graphics aren't up to modern standards

Taking inspiration from such diverse sources as Zelda, Resident Evil and any number of arcade shooters, Cavia’s Nier is a fascinating hodgepodge of different action/adventure genres. Good combat, great music, and inspired art direction make for a worthy entry in the genre. A very slow start, technical shortcomings and repetitive enemies hold Nier back from greatness, but its eclectic nature outstrips its limitations, if you’re willing to invest in the adventure.

Nier Future?

Nier is a game with an identity crisis. So much so that in its native Japan, the PS3 and 360 versions star different protagonists. That's not a concern here, as their 360 version is the only one ported to Western shores. Even so, Nier's constantly shifting genre, tone, and visual style makes it one of the most unique titles in Square-Enix's repertoire and it's a refreshing change of pace.

Beginning in the year 2049, a man is taking care of his sick daughter in a snowy post-apocalypse. After a brief tutorial where they're attacked by monsters, the game jumps ahead 1,312 years later where a similar-looking man is taking care of his similar-looking daughter in a quaint rural village. Determined to save his daughter from "the black scrawl," a mysterious and fatal disease, the father embarks on a quest for a cure.

What's most noteworthy about Nier is how varied it is, even if it takes a sizable time investment to get there. It gets off to a slow start with simple fetch quests -- you’ll hunt and kill a lot of sheep -- and unremarkable hack-and-slash combat, so one could easily write it off as a mediocre Zelda clone. But if you’re willing to sink the time in, it unravels into a smorgasbord of ideas. At prescribed times, the camera will opt for a top-down perspective recalling Link's original adventure or a twin stick shooter (depending on the scenario). Other times the camera will adjust to turn the game into a 2D sidescroller ala early Prince of Persia, or go for a 3/4 isometric view like Diablo. At one point it even ventures into survival horror territory complete with a haunted mansion and an archaic fixed camera ala Resident Evil. Nier's creative use of the camera drastically alters the feel without changing the controls. This makes genre hopping a more seamless transition than in most games where you suddenly have to learn new controls to say, drive a vehicle or swim. Nier's approach to cross-genre homages is rarely jarring, nor is it predictable. Wondering what's coming up next is among the chief pleasures Nier instills.

No one part is amazing -- save for an incredibly imaginative throwback to text-based adventure games -- but holistically, they come together effectively during the short time they last. The game's pacing is superb, so if you don't like one gameplay style, chances are you'll be doing something else in a half hour’s time.

It helps that combat is a lot of fun, though it takes a while to get to its high points. Melee fighting is rather simple with only a few basic attacks, charge move, and a few different weapons to master. The combat options open up drastically when magic is thrown into the mix. There are eight spells in total, each with their own unique properties and various charge attacks. One lets you slow down time and launch phantom lances at your opponent, another creates a doppelganger of yourself, and one allows you to continuously shoot, essentially turning the game into an arcade shooter at times. There's even a light team-based element as other characters will sometimes fight alongside you. It's nothing you haven't seen before, but Cavia executes well enough that the combat doesn't wear out its welcome in the 20+ hours it takes to complete the campaign.

One of Nier’s biggest standouts are its boss fights. They're uniformly gorgeous, varied, and require you to make the most of your abilities. The only downside to the combat is that there's precious little enemy variety. For the fun that the combat evolves to provide, you fight many of the same enemies at the end of the game as you did in the beginning, only they increase in numbers.

Nier kicks off with a litany of profane yelling that feels out of place, and some of the dialogue is cheesy and takes itself too seriously. At other points, it often borders on a parody, such as when our hero haplessly agrees to help strangers out with errands and his sidekick, a narcissistic talking book, mocks him for taking part in such petty chores when there are larger issues at stake. The overall plot is muddled, straddling the line between intriguing and confusing. Subsequent playthroughs reveal more to the story but that's asking a lot to piece it together. The plot is generally murky at best, but many individual episodes stand out more than the experience taken in whole.

Resident Ico? Shadow of the Hellboy?

When it comes to what we do see, Nier falls short. Technically, the graphics are sub-par by today's standards. It’s riddled with muddy textures and ugly character models and at times looks like a PS2 game. But look past the characters, and there's some inspired art direction on display. Taking inspiration from Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil, and Guillermo Del Toro movies, the world of Nier is a mesmerizing blend of aesthetics. Even if the people look jagged and ugly, the environments make up for it. And while the graphics are nothing to write home about, the music is. It emotes just the right amount of haunting, enchanting and rousing for the occasion.

Graphics, sadly, aren't the only of Nier's technical shortcomings. You’ll want to install the game on PS3, since without it, load times are grating. The camera is functional, but slightly unintuitive (though an auto-follow option helps). While much of the adventure is voice-acted, it's inconsistent which lines are acted and which are text only.

Aside from its technical issues, most of the side quests I encountered were little more than rote fetch quests and hardly worth trifling with. Thankfully they're all optional. Also, there's a bit of forced repetition in the game's later third where you're tasked with retreading the same path for the third time. And the game features the worst fishing tutorial since Twilight Princess. Pro-tip: buy bait and try different fishing spots. You'll thank me later.

Don’t Make This a Nier-Miss

Nier isn’t a game for everyone, but it’s still got merit if you’re willing to dig past tedious fetch quests, an incoherent plot, PlayStation 2-era graphics and some wince-inducting voice acting. Underneath those, it’s an undeniably different take on action role-playing games. Its great musical score, distinctive approach to genre-bending, stellar art direction, and a progressively improving combat system help to balance things out. If you’re a dedicated fan of action/adventure games, you might do well to keep pressing on. Nier may not be clear what it wants to be, but by borrowing the best elements of other games it carves out its own unique identity as one of the most imaginative adventure titles in recent memory.

Comments are Closed

I bought this game for 10 bucks from best buy and I'm loving this its a lot fun.Too bad Square Enix didn't promote this game here in American great action JRPG and I highly recommend this game to anyone who wants a fun JRPG and that has a great storyline and characters

Heh, I honestly found this game to actually be better than Final Fantasy 12. This game brings me back to when Square Enix used to really care for their presentation and story as well as events. In FF12, there was far too much flare and sure the graphics were great but they just didn't back it up with real characters or a decent emotional backing, I also thought that Lightning was just a Female Cloud but without the feel to be emotionally attachable, but lets get off that. I have played a good portion of this game and I have to say, it's majestic and the musical score is BY FAR one of the best I have ever heard from any game from Square Enix. I want to buy this game so bad but because of circumstances currently, I can't, so please atleast try it. Ialso forgot to mention the many different styles of play in this game, from side scroller to arcade top-down shooter, this is an RPG unlike any other that I have seen. TRY THIS GAME RPG FANS!!!

that wasnt a review he wasnt bein a critic and didnt even give any effort on this game review to me this game looks like a play station one game i give it a 1/5 come its 2010 not 2000 this is a epic fail

The review of the game seems to suggest a 3/5, yet was given 4/5. This game is destined for the bargain bins at best. The hodge podge elements, lame quests, up and down story-telling, and dated graphics really don't seem to equate to a Great (4) game. I saw someone post that Darksiders got 2/5. Really? Wow.

I love the game :) I think they did a really great job, I also like the design of the game and Kain� is hilarous. I laughed at the opening when you load the game, she was sooo angry lol. The book named Weiss who's talking all the time, I think it's a great idea. And also that you play a man who wants to save his daughter instead of a young boy who wants to save a princess makes the experience different from other rpg already.

But why people are talking about Square Enix programming or making the game, they are just the publisher in that case right? I thought so... Anyway it doesn't matter ^^'

Personally? This game somewhat reminds me of Drakkengard when Final Fantasy 10 was out. I have started to think that, when it comes to Square Enix, they have two programming teams: The beginners, who are in charge of games that most people complain about the "graphics" not being top notch, and then the advanced who create games like Valkyrie Profile and Final Fantasy. All in all, however, I dont care about the graphics of a game, as long as it can keep my interest. Personally? I like Nier, and I am actually farther in it than I am in Final Fantasy 13, due to the linear property of FF13 losing my interest a lot.

I find the review helpful and may think about picking this game up sometime but I just want to touch on the people talking about graphics. The reason many complain about graphics( I even do it at times and Ive been gaming for over two decades) is because we spend lots of money on HDTV's and we want our games to look great on them.

So, it is important for reviewers to mention graphics because even though game play is the number 1 thing, I don't want the game to play great and look awful. Sadly from the videos I've seen of this game is does look like an early ps2 title and that's not good from a company like Square Enix. When this becomes 30 dollars, I'll try it out.

cool, i really don't like those little babies whining about the graphics and all that i mean COME ON!!!! >:D, graphics don't really matter as long as the gameplay is solid, and from this review, the gameplay sounds and looks solid enough.. I can't wait to play this after i had my fun with red dead, buyin a pre-owned copy of nier so that's why =D.

Not too far into the game yet, but the first fishing quest made me laugh. After you fail two times, the screen goes black and it says "278 days later"...and it automatically gives you one of those damn shaman fish.

Does anybody realize that the G4 staff consist of many reviewers, and that everyone of them has his/her personal likes or dislikes. Maybe Jeffrey Matulef really enjoyed this game besides all of its short comings. You're reading an opinion of the game, it's not a life or death matter. Also are people really that stupid that they believe Square Enix came to G4 and said "The whole future of are company rest on you giving Nier a good score. Here's a $1000 give it at lest a 4/5." All Square Enix has to do to make millions is slap the words "Final Fantasy" on something, instant cash cow.Why do people need feel the need to compare this to other games, especially games they haven't even played like Lost Planet 2. Is it because you're fan boy penis doesn't measure up to another game and you feel insecure? Hopefully we can all get over our insecurities and just enjoy gaming. Remember talking crap about somebody for stating an opinion just shows how really insecure you really are.

I still don't see how this got a 4/5, after watching actual video footage of the gameplay. Not to be mean about it, but honestly for all the complaints they had over this game, it should have been a 2/5 or maybe a 3/5 at best. But yet Darksiders got a 2/5?? How does that work?? Maybe if games like Darksiders and Dante's Inferno was released after the buzz surrounding God of War 3 died down, it may have received a much better rating. Because I really didn't see anything about this game that was all that different from Darksiders or Dante's Inferno. But oh well, that's just me venting, I need to change up my library anyways...Shooters are starting to get old.

TBH, I'm actually surprised this game got the review (score) that it did.I honestly expected for Nier [Gestalt] to perform worse than it apparently did (especially with the odd & limited information we received of it beforehand).Like..I expected Nier [Gestalt] to get a "3 out of 5", while I expected Lost Planet 2 to receive a "4 out of 5", instead of the other way around.However, I'm really glad & proud this game performed well & received a good review from X-Play.Because despite my low expectations, I was still rooting for this game - mainly because, it is, in summation of the review, a very different, unique game. Most especially for a Hack&Slash/Action-Adventur e-RPG game (which, in a sea saturated with FPS games, is quite a refreshing change).

And despite "borrowing the best elements of other games", it was received optimistically & "holistically", instead of negatively, punishing it for being unoriginal (see: Darksiders).

To address the Con of graphics, however....I am a bit surprised that a game published by Square Enix was not treated with, & does not have, the same quality of graphics as it's Final Fantasy games (more notably, it's most recent game - FF13).While I will admit that I am a fan of such wonderfully made graphics as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as the graphics found in most of the more recent FF games, I will gladly sacrifice (a bit of) it over a more enjoyable gameplay experience, in terms of the game mechanics/controls & overall FUN-factor.And since I don't know whether or not the "poor graphics" was done intentionally for the art direction, I'll gladly dismiss the minor nitpick.

Overall, and after receiving this good review, I'll definitely be putting this on my must-buy list.

I don't understand why people thumbs down comments about the bad rating system. It does seem strange that Alan Wake and Nier have the same rating when Nier looks like it's average at best. It often seems like G4 is scared to rip games apart or to call them average at best. They use too much mitigated language and/or too forgiving. The system becomes meaningless. This game seems like it's more like a 2 or 3 based on what they showed.

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